Wednesday, October 10, 2012

It's the Lax Gun Laws in Arizona, Of Course

In fact, according to a Fortune Magazine article, the Mexican
government estimates that 2,000 weapons a day come into its country from
the U.S.

And Arizona is a primary candy store for these
cartels. According to the ATF, “By 2009 the Sinaloa drug cartel had made
Phoenix its gun supermarket and recruited young Americans as its
designated shoppers or straw purchasers... (the ATF began investigating)
a group of buyers, some not even old enough to buy beer, whose members
were plunking down as much as $20,000 in cash to purchase up to 20
semiautomatics at a time, and then delivering the weapons to others.”

Some would want us to believe that the scandalous
gun-walking plan of Fast and Furious is what we should be outraged
about. We should be: It was an ill-conceived plan that seems to involve
far too many people who should’ve known better. We know that at least
one of those guns was used in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian
Terry.

But it would be naïve — or disingenuous — to believe
that the only guns crossing the border are those walked as a result of
the ATF.

11 comments:

Operation Fast and Furious was criminal and a huge disgrace. It is a shining example of how government personnel frequently break laws and endanger the public. What recourse is there when people all the way to the top of the ATF and Justice Department are involved and they refuse to provide information to Congressional investigators? There is no person or organization above the Justice Department ... with the possible exception of the President of the U.S. And he isn't going to do anything about it. It's back to the age old question: who polices the police?

The way that selling arms to Iran to raise money for the Contras was a little thing? The way that breaking into a Washington office to steal secrets from an opponent was a little thing? See, when the government combines a screwup with an attempt to violate our rights, it's not little.

The two statements aren't mutually exclusive. Dumb and Spurious was clumsy, but the one thing that we can't trust the government to do is to take an opportunity to go after guns and try to make something of it.

Even if the U.S. didn't exist, that would not stop organized crime in Mexico from importing/smuggling firearms from other countries where it is even easier to bribe their "officials". Think about it. How many officials in a foreign country like Brazil or Russia would resist a deal where they get $100,000 if they cooperate and their whole family dies if they refuse? To organized crime, $100,000 is a rounding error with their several billions of dollars of annual revenue.

We're not making things easier for criminals to get guns. The gun laws that you propose would have no effect on disqualified persons having access to firearms. That's what we keep showing you. Criminals will get guns. Your laws would only keep good citizens from having them. You're unable to comprehend that, seemingly.